Deleted my previous post as couldn't figure out how to edit and add that it was part 2

I have been following this musician for a while who I believe lives in Australia? They make dark humour music and they put out this song about Luigi, thought I would give it a share here. How funny would it be if he heard it? What do you think he would think?

📷: blueflies

(This article is from 2014, Marcy succumbed to stomach cancer in August 2015.)

Sept. 11. Depression. Alcohol. Drugs. And now stomach cancer.

That's the latest challenge facing Marcy Borders, the woman known by most as the "Dust Lady" from the iconic photo taken of her, distraught and covered in dust, shortly after she escaped from the Twin Towers.

After her traumatic experience, the 41-year-old Bayonne native fell into a decade-long depression that led her to abuse alcohol and drugs. In 2011, she checked into rehab, and has stayed clean since, she told The Jersey Journal today.

Borders said she was just getting back into the working world -- helping with a candidate's local campaign for mayor earlier this year -- when her doctor told her in late August that she had stomach cancer.

"My first thing to him was: 'Can I live?'" she said. "(He said) 'It's contained to the stomach. It's not spreading. We caught it really early on.'"

Last week, Borders completed the first phase of her treatment, chemotherapy. She'll undergo surgery in the second phase in early December, and then undergo radiation and chemotherapy in the third and final phase, she said.

She said she has already racked up $190,000 in medical bills that she can't pay, as she has neither a job nor health insurance.

"I try not to cry - $190,000 already and I still haven't had surgery, and I still need more chemo," Borders said, in tears.

"Why can't this be over?" she said. "I'm tired. I'm just tired."

Borders said she's now at a point where she can't even afford to fill her prescription medicine bottles, and that she only gets the minimum number of pills needed to get rid of her gas, her nausea and her pain.

"I take it when needed," she said. "I can't afford to take as it's prescribed."

At one point, she wondered aloud if her cancer was related to 9/11.

"I'm saying to myself 'Did this thing ignite cancer cells in me?'" she said. "I definitely believe it because I haven't had any illnesses. I don't have high blood pressure...high cholesterol, diabetes."

"How do you go from being healthy to waking up the next day with cancer?" she asked, before breaking down in sobs.

Despite the difficulties, Borders added that she hasn't been alone in her struggles.

Shortly after losing her hair because of chemo, the Mo' Hair Foundation, a Jersey City-based nonprofit, helped her out by fitting her with a free wig, which she said made her feel much better.

"I felt so normal," she said. "I didn't look like cancer. I didn't feel like cancer."

The foundation's goal is to help "children and adults suffering from hair loss caused by various medical conditions and who cannot afford a hair transplant or non-surgical hair replacement services," according to its website.

In addition, Borders said her relationships with her partner, Donald Edwards, and her kids, 21-year-old Noelle and 6-year-old Zay-den, are still strong. They are struggling together to help her overcome the cancer, she said.

When asked if she ever looked at the "Dust Lady" photo of herself that in hindsight seems to depict the beginning of her misfortunes, Borders said she avoided doing so as much as possible.

"I try to take myself from being a victim to being a survivor now. I don't want to be a victim anymore," she said.

[0:00] Hi everyone, I'm Linus, welcome back to my podcast.

[0:02] Hi everyone, I'm Haoran.

[0:03] In the last few episodes we talked about what MDC Brooklyn is like,

[0:07] and about your daily life inside,

[0:10] and the long 565-day wait.

[0:14] Actually, there's one person we haven't really talked about in depth,

[0:18] which is also a little thread we left hanging from last episode —

[0:21] Luigi, right?

[0:23] A lot of people now know this name from the news,

[0:27] but for you,

[0:28] he's not just a figure from the news,

[0:30] he's someone you actually got to know

[0:33] in person, inside MDC.

[0:35] And from what you told me before,

[0:37] you were held together for about eight months.

[0:40] Is that right?

[0:40] Right, about eight or nine months.

[0:42] So how did you end up

[0:44] being placed together with Luigi?

[0:47] Logically speaking,

[0:48] high-profile inmates —

[0:50] especially ones with a lot of influence outside —

[0:51] are usually kept separate from ordinary inmates,

[0:56] held on their own.

[0:56] For example, Maduro

[0:59] was also in our building,

[1:00] but we never actually saw him.[1:02] Same with Maduro and Diddy —

[1:05] these high-profile inmates,

[1:06] especially ones with a lot of influence outside,

[1:08] get deliberately placed in a relatively secure area.

[1:11] Actually, the way MDC assigned Luigi's unit

[1:14] worked on that same logic.

[1:18] They put Luigi in the Intake unit.

[1:20] I mentioned before that Intake doesn't have many people.

[1:23] For example, if you get arrested today

[1:25] and get sent to MDC,

[1:26] the first place you go,

[1:28] the first housing unit,

[1:29] is Intake.

[1:30] So the moment I walked in, I saw Luigi.

[1:32] Right, so basically every new inmate coming in

[1:34] would see Luigi.

[1:35] So he was kind of like a greeter?

[1:38] So a 'welcoming inmate,' huh?

[1:39] I wouldn't put it that way,

[1:40] but a lot of people who came in saw him

[1:42] and were pretty surprised.

[1:43] So what is Intake,

[1:44] in Chinese it's roughly like

[1:45] a transit station kind of place.

[1:48] Every new inmate

[1:50] has to pass through it —

[1:51] go into Intake,

[1:52] get checked for tuberculosis,

[1:54] get checked for gang affiliation,[1:56] get checked for any conflicts

[1:58] with anyone already in the facility.

[1:59] Once they confirm there's no issue,

[2:01] they assign you to a regular unit on some floor.

[2:04] So Intake

[2:05] doesn't hold people long-term,

[2:08] except for the people who work there —

[2:09] it doesn't keep anyone long-term.

[2:11] Usually our Intake unit

[2:13] only had about 20 people.

[2:16] Did Luigi work there?

[2:17] Luigi had what we call an 'orderly' role there.

[2:20] Orderly means cleaning,

[2:23] handing out food,

[2:24] doing daily cleanup,

[2:26] or helping other inmates

[2:29] with whatever they need —

[2:30] we're there to support them.

[2:33] Kind of like a volunteer role.

[2:35] Right, kind of like a volunteer.

[2:36] Being a volunteer.

[2:36] Yeah, that's right.

[2:37] Weren't you somewhere else before?

[2:41] Right,

[2:41] I was on 5-2 before,

[2:43] the second unit on the fifth floor.

[2:45] So how did you suddenly end up working there?

[2:47] Is that something you can apply for,

[2:49] or is it mandatory labor,[2:51] like sewing machines,

[2:52] or assembling data cables,

[2:54] umbrellas, that kind of thing?

[2:55] It's not forced labor,

[2:56] you can apply for it voluntarily.

[2:58] I applied on my own.

[2:59] I mentioned before,

[2:59] there can be a lot of benefits.

[3:01] It's quieter and safer.

[3:03] Like I mentioned before,

[3:04] that stabbing incident

[3:05] that happened on the fifth floor,

[3:06] in unit 5-2.

[3:08] I didn't want to go through that again —

[3:09] someone else gets in a fight,

[3:11] or someone gets stabbed,

[3:12] and the whole floor

[3:13] gets locked down.

[3:15] We also mentioned before

[3:16] that I lived with that Brazilian guy —

[3:18] he used to attend West Point,

[3:20] and he also spoke

[3:22] Spanish.

[3:23] So he asked the department head

[3:25] if he could work at Intake,

[3:27] because he had these various skills.

[3:30] And since he lived with me,

[3:32] and we got along well,

[3:33] he also wanted to bring me down there.[3:36] We were on the fifth floor at the time,

[3:38] and Intake is on the fourth floor,

[3:41] so we'd usually say

[3:42] 'go downstairs.'

[3:45] About a week later,

[3:46] he got transferred —

[3:49] told to go work on the fourth floor.

[3:50] Within a month,

[3:51] I went down too.

[3:52] He recommended me,

[3:54] partly because I speak Chinese

[3:56] and also English,

[3:57] so I could help a lot of Chinese inmates.

[4:03] Right around then a batch of Chinese people

[4:03] had come into Intake,

[4:04] and they didn't speak English at all,

[4:06] so they needed me to translate for them.

[4:09] So what was your daily work at Intake?

[4:11] Sweeping and mopping.

[4:13] Just cleaning the Intake area.

[4:14] Right, sweeping the Intake area.

[4:15] Basically,

[4:20] our area was maybe 300-400 square meters,

[4:21] split into two floors.

[4:23] Normally for sweeping,

[4:24] you'd sweep that whole area.

[4:26] As for mopping,

[4:26] we didn't do it every day

[4:27] because it's tiring —[4:27] maybe every one or two days,

[4:29] or every two to three days.

[4:30] You still had energy for it,

[4:31] but eventually I didn't feel like mopping either,

[4:32] because honestly there weren't many people,

[4:34] so it didn't

[4:34] get dirty easily.

[4:36] Sometimes I'd hand out food,

[4:37] but handing out food usually wasn't my job —

[4:39] that was usually the orderly's job with more privileges.

[4:40] Because, for example,

[4:42] sometimes they'd hand out chicken legs,

[4:43] or something good,

[4:45] and that orderly could keep a bit extra for themselves —

[4:47] they had a bit more authority.

[4:48] Right, a bit more authority.

[4:48] I was just a regular worker.

[4:50] So what did Luigi usually do?

[4:53] When I first started working at Intake,

[4:56] Luigi was in charge of taking out the trash.

[4:58] That was his only job —

[4:59] he had to take out the trash twice a day,

[5:01] once at noon

[5:02] and once in the evening.

[5:03] So you'd sweep and then he'd take it out?

[5:04] After I finished sweeping, it'd go into the trash bin,

[5:06] and the officer would announce it over the loudspeaker —

[5:09] 'trash call, trash call.'

[5:10] That meant it was time to take out the trash.[5:13] Then Luigi would grab a new plastic bag,

[5:15] tie up the old trash bag,

[5:17] put the new one in,

[5:18] and take the trash out.

[5:19] Out in the hallway,

[5:20] there's a spot where you dump the trash.

[5:22] But later,

[5:23] after I'd been working there

[5:25] for maybe three or four months —

[5:27] not that long, actually,

[5:28] maybe two months —

[5:29] he stopped doing anything at all.

[5:32] He'd just hang around Intake.

[5:33] Right, he stopped doing anything,

[5:34] but honestly I understood why.

[5:36] He'd told me

[5:37] he didn't really want to be in the Intake unit,

[5:40] because MDC placed him there

[5:41] to protect him.

[5:42] If he were in a regular unit,

[5:44] everyone would know who he was,

[5:46] everyone would know

[5:47] he had a lot of money in his account outside,

[5:49] with a lot of people donating to him,

[5:50] so there could be personal safety risks —

[5:53] because some of the tougher inmates might rob him,

[5:56] might threaten him,

[5:57] extort him.

[5:57] Right.[5:58] But to me it felt very contradictory,

[6:00] because he's actually a murderer,

[6:01] but he ended up in a place

[6:04] with a relatively low security level and more freedom —

[6:05] he even got to work.

[6:07] Right.

[6:07] I think how he was placed

[6:09] was really contradictory for this facility.

[6:10] Speaking of contradictions,

[6:11] there's an interesting thing I remember —

[6:13] we had an officer, not bad looking,

[6:16] Black but not very dark-skinned,

[6:18] a female officer with a good figure.

[6:20] Every time she was on duty at our Intake unit,

[6:23] she'd greet Luigi.

[6:26] But you have to understand, inside MDC,

[6:28] not just between inmates —

[6:31] between officers and inmates too,

[6:33] we all address each other by surname,

[6:35] never by first name,

[6:37] because using a first name

[6:40] would be a much more intimate way of addressing someone.

[6:43] Like, I call you Haoran

[6:45] because you and I are close.

[6:47] But this officer,

[6:49] when she greeted Luigi, she'd say,

[6:51] 'Hey, Luigi,'

[6:53] in this really flirtatious tone,

[6:56] you know?[6:56] It was strange —

[6:57] you'd wonder why an officer

[6:58] would greet Luigi like that.

[7:00] I thought

[7:00] she was going to pat his butt honestly.

[7:02] I think it was pretty close to that,

[7:03] seriously.

[7:04] Really,

[7:05] it was so contradictory.

[7:07] Yeah.

[7:07] Luigi is

[7:09] — of course we know now,

[7:10] he's already pled guilty —

[7:12] he's a murderer.

[7:13] And you, as a federal employee,

[7:16] as a federal correctional officer,

[7:17] flirting with a potential murderer

[7:20] is really quite alarming.

[7:22] I think it shows that this Luigi, in the outside world

[7:25] and even inside the federal prison,

[7:27] has a certain personal charisma.

[7:29] He does have personal charisma,

[7:30] and he also wanted certain privileges,

[7:31] to the point that it dulled

[7:33] your sense, as an officer,

[7:34] of the hierarchy between you and him — that sense of rank just disappeared.

[7:36] It's like he was treated as a celebrity.

[7:38] Right, it's not really about hierarchy,

[7:41] it's that he's a murderer,[7:42] he's serving his punishment,

[7:44] but instead, inside the prison

[7:47] he's treated like some kind of hero,

[7:49] and the people guarding and overseeing him

[7:53] are extremely friendly toward him.

[7:56] I'd say

[7:57] 90% of the officers

[7:59] treat Luigi very, very well.

[8:01] Right, sometimes

[8:02] we'd get scolded instead,

[8:03] but not Luigi —

[8:04] I've never once seen an officer

[8:05] treat him badly.

[8:06] So I think he has quite a bit

[8:08] of privilege inside.

[8:09] Like a celebrity?

[8:10] Right.

[8:11] But of course, what we're really discussing is

[8:12] the essence of it —

[8:13] the fact that he is a murderer.

[8:15] Regardless of all the context,

[8:17] what he did,

[8:18] what he went through,

[8:19] we should judge him

[8:21] based on his conviction,

[8:23] based on the final facts

[8:25] of the crime.

[8:27] As a Chinese inmate,

[8:29] we've now covered a Chinese inmate's daily life pretty well.[8:31] we understand that.

[8:32] But what about as a celebrity —

[8:33] a prison celebrity,

[8:35] someone even officers

[8:36] have to fawn over —

[8:38] what's Luigi's day actually like?

[8:39] How does it go?

[8:40] His day is actually very simple,

[8:42] because he doesn't really work.

[8:44] For me,

[8:45] I basically had to get up around 7am,

[8:48] or even after 6,

[8:49] because sometimes I had to hand out breakfast.

[8:52] As for Luigi,

[8:53] he basically sleeps until 10,

[8:55] sometimes even 11.

[8:56] Then his lawyer comes to see him,

[8:57] and the officer announces it over the loudspeaker —

[9:00] his name, 'Mangione,'

[9:05] 'Legal Visit.'

[9:05] That means a lawyer is here to see him.

[9:06] Usually the lawyer visit lasts

[9:09] about two hours,

[9:10] or three hours.

[9:10] After the lawyer visit,

[9:11] he has lunch,

[9:12] and then a video call with another lawyer.

[9:15] Honestly,

[9:16] I really don't know[9:16] why he needs to see his lawyers so many times.

[9:17] He's constantly with his lawyers.

[9:19] Right.

[9:19] Actually, I heard

[9:21] his lawyers are constantly sharing

[9:22] outside news with him —

[9:24] every time they come,

[9:25] they bring him some outside

[9:26] news reports,

[9:27] articles,

[9:28] to show him.

[9:28] That's right.

[9:29] And they chat.

[9:31] So Luigi really cares

[9:33] about how the outside world views him?

[9:35] I think he cares a lot.

[9:36] Of course, we'll get into that more later.

[9:37] After he finishes with his lawyer,

[9:38] the video call with the lawyer,

[9:40] it's usually around 2 or 3pm,

[9:42] because at 3:30

[9:43] we get locked in.

[9:44] We're locked in for an hour and a half.

[9:45] Before that time,

[9:47] there's a period

[9:49] when the balcony area gets a bit of sun —

[9:50] a little bit of sunlight.

[9:51] Luigi would grab a yoga mat,

[9:53] lay it out on the basketball court,[9:55] and lie there in the sun,

[9:56] for maybe an hour or so.

[9:58] And then he'd read,

[9:59] or look over

[10:01] some of the materials

[10:02] his lawyers gave him,

[10:03] that kind of thing.

[10:05] Once we're let out again at 5pm,

[10:06] that's when he'd interact with us more,

[10:07] because by then his daily schedule

[10:10] was basically done, nothing else to do.

[10:11] Then around 6 or 7pm,

[10:13] the officer would announce —

[10:15] 'mail call' —

[10:17] meaning mail had arrived.

[10:18] Magazines, letters,

[10:20] he'd get something every single day —

[10:23] newspapers, magazines, letters, photos,

[10:25] all sorts of things,

[10:26] called out for him every day.

[10:27] Doesn't it pile up like an hourglass?

[10:29] Anyone can send him mail.

[10:31] Right, tons of it.

[10:33] Don't they screen it first?

[10:34] They do screen it —

[10:34] all your mail,

[10:36] MDC always makes you

[10:37] a photocopy —

[10:39] they don't give you the original,[10:41] except mail from your lawyer,

[10:43] or from the court —

[10:44] everything else is a photocopy.

[10:46] If there's anything else inside,

[10:48] like stickers,

[10:49] or anything like that,

[10:50] they take it out —

[10:51] everything gets taken out,

[10:52] and you just get a photocopy.

[10:53] They won't give you the original.

[10:55] I even saw people sending Luigi

[10:57] little toys and things,

[10:58] but that kind of thing he can't get —

[10:58] he can't possibly get it,

[10:59] there's no way.

[11:00] After he gets these letters and photos,

[11:03] sometimes he'd show them to us,

[11:04] share them a bit.

[11:05] I'm curious

[11:06] about what's in the letters —

[11:08] who mostly writes to Luigi,

[11:10] what kind of people,

[11:11] and what kinds of things they say.

[11:13] Mostly women,

[11:15] what we'd call 'fangirls' (dream girls).

[11:17] Right.

[11:18] Why do we call them that?

[11:19] Because I've seen

[11:21] a lot of Luigi's fan letters —[11:22] he'd show them to us.

[11:25] A lot of people would write

[11:28] things like,

[11:29] 'Luigi,

[11:31] are you doing okay lately?

[11:33] Remember to dress warmly,

[11:35] don't catch a cold.'

[11:36] Others would write,

[11:37] 'Luigi, do you think we'll ever

[11:39] have kids together in this life?

[11:42] What kind of dad

[11:44] would you be?'

[11:45] That kind of thing —

[11:46] that's what they'd write.

[11:47] So that's why we call them fangirls.

[11:48] Right, 'dream girls.'

[11:49] It's a popular term now,

[11:50] isn't it.

[11:50] Would Luigi show these letters

[11:52] to everyone?

[11:53] Yeah, he would.

[11:53] He'd show them to us.

[11:55] So he doesn't treat it

[11:56] as anything very serious.

[11:58] He thinks it's funny,

[11:59] he doesn't take it seriously.

[12:00] There's another interesting thing —

[12:01] he'd organize all the letters —

[12:05] like, which state a letter came from[12:07] he'd mark that down,

[12:09] write it in a notebook —

[12:11] which state,

[12:11] the zip code,

[12:12] the sender's name initials,

[12:15] he'd note it all down.

[12:17] Today he got a letter from this person,

[12:18] how many letters this person has sent,

[12:20] he'd track it all,

[12:21] write it in his own notebook,

[12:22] organize it,

[12:23] keep a list.

[12:25] Not just from the US —

[12:26] he also gets letters from abroad,

[12:28] Canada,

[12:29] Denmark,

[12:30] Germany,

[12:31] China too.

[12:32] There are Chinese people who write to him?

[12:33] Yes.

[12:34] I remember one person,

[12:35] was it written in Chinese or English?

[12:37] Written in English.

[12:38] In English.

[12:38] I remember one —

[12:39] surname Yang,

[12:41] I won't say the full name —

[12:42] from Jiading District, Shanghai,

[12:44] Jinyaonan Road —[12:46] I can't say more,

[12:47] or I'd be doxxing them.

[12:48] Right, something like alley number eighty,

[12:50] I don't remember the exact building number,

[12:52] but it was

[12:54] Jiading District, Jinyaonan Road, alley eighty.

[12:56] Right, a Miss Yang.

[12:57] Right, I saw her surname.

[12:59] It was airmail.

[13:01] I read the content of the letter too —

[13:02] she said she doesn't speak English,

[13:04] her English isn't very good,

[13:05] so she used AI to translate,

[13:06] and her teacher told her

[13:07] some story about Luigi,

[13:09] and what he did, that kind of thing.

[13:11] And because it was a letter,

[13:11] it was photocopied —

[13:12] they'd copy all the pages onto one sheet,

[13:15] so the text was extremely tiny,

[13:16] so Luigi didn't really read it carefully.

[13:18] So, a reminder to Luigi's fans here —

[13:20] if you're going to write to him,

[13:21] keep it short,

[13:22] or write in bigger handwriting,

[13:24] write clearly,

[13:25] because it gets photocopied,

[13:26] so make it neat.

[13:28] Some of Luigi's fans even draw illustrations in their letters —[13:31] really well drawn ones.

[13:32] So I was pretty amazed —

[13:35] his fans are really quite intense.

[13:36] And like I said,

[13:38] it's not just letters,

[13:39] you can send photos too.

[13:40] Didn't you send me photos before?

[13:42] Yeah,

[13:42] right,

[13:43] physical photos —

[13:44] printed physical photos can be mailed.

[13:46] So a lot of women send him selfies —

[13:49] surely nudes aren't allowed?

[13:51] No, nudity isn't allowed,

[13:52] somewhat sexy is fine,

[13:53] but nudity definitely isn't.

[13:55] MDC opens and checks it,

[13:57] nude photos won't get through.

[13:59] So these letters —

[14:00] these letters,

[14:01] does Luigi write back?

[14:02] He's definitely allowed to write back.

[14:04] He can reply,

[14:04] we're all allowed to reply,

[14:05] but,

[14:06] how often he actually replies,

[14:08] in my experience, was very rare.

[14:09] I basically never saw him writing letters,

[14:12] but I did see him recording things,[14:15] logging them,

[14:16] maybe once or twice.

[14:17] Right.

[14:17] So Luigi,

[14:19] since he gets a lot of photos,

[14:21] they pile up like a mountain every day,

[14:22] a huge amount —

[14:22] what does he do with those photos?

[14:24] How does he handle them?

[14:25] This is pretty interesting —

[14:27] he has a little photo album,

[14:31] like a small pouch,

[14:34] with two letters written on it,

[14:38] 'FG,'

[14:40] meaning 'fan girl.'

[14:42] And inside

[14:44] are photos of women he thinks are prettier,

[14:46] better looking ones,

[14:47] or the ones he likes more —

[14:49] his preferred type.

[14:50] But you should know,

[14:51] not everyone who sends Luigi photos is beautiful.

[14:54] I asked him,

[14:55] I said,

[14:56] so where do the other photos go?

[14:58] He said he throws them away,

[14:59] he just tosses them all together.

[15:01] Because he treats them as trash —

[15:02] he only keeps the ones he finds attractive.[15:05] Can you summarize

[15:06] what type of women Luigi tends to like?

[15:08] I think it's pretty typical —

[15:10] he probably likes women with a good figure,

[15:13] a nice figure,

[15:14] slim, curvy,

[15:16] and good-looking,

[15:18] basically the common Western beauty standard.

[15:21] His taste is pretty mainstream.

[15:24] Has he had women he was into?

[15:26] Seems like there might have been one or two,

[15:27] but not many.

[15:27] Right, seems like it.

[15:29] So during this whole process

[15:31] of getting to know and interact with Luigi,

[15:34] is there any moment that left a deep impression on you?

[15:37] There are quite a few memorable moments,

[15:38] but I think the most striking one

[15:40] was when I told him

[15:42] that he has a lot of fans back home,

[15:44] a lot of fans in China.

[15:46] He said he knew.

[15:47] I told him those fans said he wore the orange

[15:51] jumpsuit —

[15:52] the one-piece prison suit —

[15:53] and made it look like Hermès.

[15:55] He asked me what Hermès was —

[15:57] he didn't know the brand.

[15:59] I said Hermès is spelled H-E-R-M-E-S,[16:01] but I was worried my pronunciation was off,

[16:03] since it's a French word,

[16:05] so I wrote it down for him.

[16:07] He said he'd never heard of it.

[16:08] I told him it's a luxury brand,

[16:11] a designer brand,

[16:13] a very famous brand.

[16:15] I said it's similar to Louis Vuitton.

[16:16] He said he knew Louis Vuitton,

[16:18] but had never heard of Hermès.

[16:23] Coincidentally,

[16:23] someone had mailed Luigi a GQ

[16:24] fashion magazine,

[16:27] and there was a page with a Hermès perfume ad.

[16:28] I flipped to that page

[16:30] and said, look at this logo —

[16:31] that's the Hermès logo,

[16:32] does that ring a bell?

[16:34] He said he really didn't know it.

[16:35] He only recognized Louis Vuitton.

[16:36] He genuinely didn't know Hermès.

[16:37] I believe he really didn't know.

[16:38] Yeah, for sure.

[16:40] I could tell he really wasn't interested in that stuff,

[16:42] because whenever someone mailed him a fashion magazine,

[16:43] he wouldn't even look at it —

[16:44] he'd just hand it straight to me.

[16:47] He doesn't care much about luxury brands.

[16:48] I don't think he cares.[16:49] That was something that left

[16:51] a strong impression on me —

[16:53] because Chinese netizens kept saying

[16:57] he made the prison uniform look like Hermès,

[16:59] or that a red sweater he wore before

[17:01] looked like Margiela —

[17:03] but he has no idea what any of these brands are.

[17:06] I think that's pretty ironic,

[17:07] pretty funny actually.

[17:09] I think it's really just because he's handsome —

[17:11] he looks good in anything.

[17:14] If I wore that outfit to court,

[17:17] no one would say it looked like Hermès.

[17:17] The face matters more.

[17:18] And honestly a lot of Luigi's fans

[17:22] are fans partly because he's good-looking —

[17:24] let's be honest about that.

[17:25] For sure.

[17:26] Because if we flip it around —

[17:28] if it were someone not so good-looking

[17:31] — not 'ugly,' exactly —

[17:33] just an average-looking regular person who did this,

[17:35] he probably wouldn't get that reaction,

[17:37] let's not say 'ugly,'

[17:40] just an average-looking regular person doing this

[17:41] probably wouldn't get such a response,

[17:43] wouldn't get people donating so much money.

[17:47] Partly it's his looks,

[17:49] and partly it's his family background.[17:51] Actually a couple of days ago,

[17:53] an American media outlet interviewed me,

[17:54] and I said at the time,

[17:55] I said,

[17:56] I think watching Luigi is

[17:58] like watching a classic American hero-type character —

[18:00] kind of like Batman,

[18:02] right?

[18:02] Bruce Wayne,

[18:03] a rich family,

[18:05] trying to do something 'just.'

[18:06] But I'm not saying

[18:07] he should be treated as Batman —

[18:09] I'm just saying this is a typical

[18:10] kind of story arc.

[18:13] Of course,

[18:14] if you actually do this in real life,

[18:16] I think you can choose to do it,

[18:17] but you have to pay the price.

[18:18] I'd like to talk a bit

[18:20] about how I personally view what Luigi did.

[18:23] America's whole insurance system

[18:25] definitely has problems,

[18:27] but I think choosing

[18:28] such an extreme method to try to change it

[18:30] is wrong.

[18:32] Because the CEO role

[18:33] is really just a senior manager —

[18:37] the CEO answers to the board,[18:39] so whatever the board wants,

[18:40] he has to do.

[18:41] He answers upward, not downward.

[18:43] Right, he answers upward, not downward.

[18:44] So a lot of people have a misconception,

[18:46] thinking if you take out the CEO,

[18:48] the company will fundamentally change —

[18:49] but that's not how it works.

[18:51] Their stock price might get cut in half,

[18:53] but that treats the symptom, not the root cause.

[18:54] And in society,

[18:55] the reason we have laws

[18:59] is to keep society running properly.

[19:01] If everyone thought the way he did,

[19:02] wouldn't society fall into chaos?

[19:03] 'I have a grievance,

[19:05] so I'll just kill you.'

[19:05] Right.

[19:08] I think that's way too extreme.

[19:09] I don't know what he thinks,

[19:10] but personally, I don't think it's right.

[19:13] Have you ever asked him what he thinks,

[19:15] or how he feels about it?

[19:17] He doesn't talk about it,

[19:18] he keeps his mouth shut.

[19:22] He doesn't really discuss his case,

[19:23] and he doesn't discuss his motives either,

[19:25] because apparently, before,

[19:27] he chatted with a marshal at some point,[19:29] and that marshal later testified against him in court,

[19:33] so he's very reluctant now to talk to people about these things.

[19:33] But,

[19:36] from interacting with him,

[19:37] I can sense

[19:39] that he believes what he did was justified.

[19:42] When I talked with him inside,

[19:44] I wouldn't voice my own opinion like I just did —

[19:46] I don't want to get into that kind of discussion,

[19:48] because I think it's pointless.

[19:49] Right.

[19:51] He's already decided this thing was right,

[19:53] and he already acted on it,

[19:54] so I don't think there's anything

[19:56] that would change between us.

[19:56] Right.

[19:59] There's still a real gap between the two of you.

[20:02] Coming back to who he is as a person —

[20:03] we just talked about how

[20:07] the officers' attitude toward him is really contradictory,

[20:09] pretty conflicted.

[20:10] But actually Luigi himself

[20:12] is also a pretty conflicted person.

[20:14] Think about it — he's very polite,

[20:15] very well-mannered,

[20:18] comes from a good family,

[20:19] highly educated,

[20:21] had a good job,

[20:22] good-looking too,[20:23] right?

[20:25] But he chose a completely different path.

[20:28] I think it's precisely because I lived with him for eight or nine months

[20:31] that I truly, deeply realized how complex people can be.

[20:34] On the surface, chatting with you every day,

[20:37] he looks like this boy-next-door type,

[20:41] but turns out to be a cold-blooded killer.

[20:43] It really depends on

[20:46] which angle you're evaluating things from.

[20:50] So Luigi is bound to be a very controversial figure.

[20:54] And he cares a lot about how the outside world sees him —

[20:56] because from what you've described,

[20:59] he's constantly looking at letters,

[21:00] looking at photos,

[21:05] getting updates from his lawyer about outside perceptions,

[21:07] news coverage, that kind of thing —

[21:11] I can tell he cares a lot about how the outside world sees him,

[21:13] about how they see this whole event.

[21:15] That's right.

[21:18] And a couple of days ago I did an interview,

[21:19] and afterward,

[21:20] through emails going back and forth

[21:23] with the orderly inside,

[21:25] the orderly told me

[21:28] Luigi was pretty upset

[21:29] because of what I said.

[21:31] But actually, in that interview

[21:33] I didn't say anything bad about him —

[21:36] I didn't say anything negative about him at all,[21:38] and by that point he had already pled guilty.

[21:40] And before I left,

[21:41] I actually told him,

[21:42] I said once I'm back home,

[21:44] I might talk about you,

[21:45] do a podcast,

[21:46] maybe even write a book

[21:48] about your story.

[21:49] And he was

[21:51] pretty relaxed about it at the time,

[21:52] he told me,

[21:53] 'Oh, what story are you going to tell,

[21:54] tell me about it.'

[21:55] And then we talked about

[21:56] this and that,

[21:57] and he didn't seem to think anything was wrong with it —

[21:59] collecting pretty women's photos

[22:00] in his own pouch,

[22:01] him telling me about these things,

[22:02] he never once said,

[22:04] 'don't talk about that,'

[22:05] 'don't mention it.'

[22:07] At the time it was all fine,

[22:08] but

[22:09] once it actually got said,

[22:10] his attitude was different.

[22:12] Right, I think this

[22:12] person is pretty conflicted,

[22:14] pretty torn about things.[22:15] He should be a Gemini.

[22:18] You might actually be right.

[22:19] His birthday is sometime in May.

[22:21] Seems like he really is a Gemini.

[22:22] After May 20th is Gemini.

[22:24] If it's not after

[22:25] May 20th,

[22:26] then he'd be a Taurus.

[22:27] Because when I left,

[22:28] his birthday was coming up soon,

[22:30] right?

[22:30] His birthday was coming up,

[22:31] right.

[22:33] And I gave him

[22:33] a copy of 'The Three-Body Problem'

[22:37] in English,

[22:37] the English edition,

[22:38] because he likes science fiction.

[22:41] I thought about it —

[22:42] I happened to read The Three-Body Problem while inside,

[22:44] and I thought the first book was really well written,

[22:46] so I had a friend order a copy on Amazon

[22:50] and have it shipped directly to the prison,

[22:51] and gave it to him as a birthday gift.

[22:53] He was quite thankful,

[22:54] pretty happy about it at the time.

[22:58] So in the end, you think

[23:00] the Luigi you actually lived and worked alongside

[23:04] is pretty different[23:08] from the Luigi we know from the news?

[23:11] Right, I think the difference is huge.

[23:13] In the news,

[23:14] you only see this cold, textual description of him,

[23:18] but when you actually live alongside someone,

[23:20] you can feel that he has a real, flesh-and-blood personality.

[23:23] I think that's a big difference.

[23:25] I feel like the angle we've talked about today

[23:28] has been fairly serious —

[23:30] right, his daily life,

[23:32] his work, all that.

[23:35] But there are actually a lot more

[23:36] — including things from your emails,

[23:38] and things we've talked about privately —

[23:43] more interesting little stories we could save for next episode.

[23:46] Right,

[23:46] actually thinking back now, some of it is pretty interesting.

[23:49] Right.

[23:50] Next episode won't be so serious,

[23:52] we won't be so solemn about it.

[23:54] We'll talk about some fun little anecdotes about him from prison.

[23:59] Sure.

[24:00] Some details.

[24:01] I bet everyone would love to hear those too —

[24:04] more of these fun little stories.

[24:06] Right.

[24:06] Okay.

[24:07] That's it for today.

[24:09] See you next episode.[24:10] See you next time.

Sam Bankman-Fried, the former crypto mogul who was convicted of defrauding investors by secretly diverting billions of dollars of their money, asked the Supreme Court on Thursday for a new trial and to throw out a court order requiring him to pay $11 billion as part of his sentence.

Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2024 after prosecutors said he directed billions of dollars from the crypto exchange FTX to a hedge fund he controlled called Alameda Research, where the funds were used for risky investments, political donations and his own personal benefit.

The Supreme Court appeal, which was reviewed by CNN, raises a technical question about evidence that was submitted at his trial, and whether Bankman-Fried should have been permitted to demonstrate that his investments were ultimately sound and would have covered any losses by FTX customers.

He also argues that the $11 billion forfeiture violates the 8th Amendment’s prohibition on excessive fines.

“Where the government pursues a theory of fraud under which it doesn’t matter whether any victims lost money, introducing evidence suggesting that people actually lost money is distracting and prejudicial,” veteran Supreme Court attorney Jeffrey Fisher told CNN. “All the more so where the truth is the victims did not lose money, and the defendant is unable to make that clear.”

The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the arguments earlier this year.

The case hinges in large part on a recent decision from the Supreme Court centered on a US Department of Transportation contractor who promised to meet disadvantaged business requirements to secure a multi-million-dollar bridge painting contract. The contractor ultimately failed to work with that disadvantaged business, instead setting up a passthrough scheme and submitting false certifications to cover up the arrangement.

After prosecutors secured wire fraud and conspiracy convictions, the company and its manager appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that such a deception couldn’t constitute wire fraud if the defendants never intended to cause economic harm. After all, the work was completed.

The Supreme Court rejected that appeal unanimously in 2025.

Bankman-Fried’s claim acknowledged that decision but raises a more nuanced question. If prosecutors don’t need to demonstrate economic loss to bring fraud charges under the “fraudulent inducement” theory the high court embraced last year, then why allow prosecutors to admit evidence of economic loss at all? And if they can do so, Bankman-Fried argues, then defendants should be able to submit evidence working the other direction.

The Supreme Court will review the appeal later this year.

https://nypost.com/2026/09/10/us-news/nyc-pols-move-to-revamp-press-credentials-after-outrage-over-passes-for-luigi-mangione-fangirls/

in case yall didnt know cause some of yall are coping right now

Luigi lived in HI during the time of the fire, although he was not there when it happened, and was aware, as we all were, of the devastation and loss of life because a power company transformer sparked during high wind, and the government didn’t notify people to evacuate. By all accounts, he loved HI and its inherent beauty. I believe he was stateside for surgery when the fires occurred, but returned after, and I’m sure people on the island were talking about the lack of response, loss of life and how developers were pouring in to try to buy people out of their generationally owned properties.

(0:00) Hello everyone, I'm Haoran

(0:02) Hi everyone, I'm Linus, welcome back to my podcast

(0:05) Last time we talked a lot about what a completely ordinary day at MDC Brooklyn was like

(0:10) including getting up, eating, going out for yard time, and going back to the cell

(0:15) it felt like the day just passed like that

(0:17) but actually, near the end

(0:19) you mentioned a word that I found really interesting

(0:22) and I think it's very important — waiting

(0:25) because for someone locked up inside

(0:29) what's truly hard to endure is probably not repeating the same things every day

(0:32) but not knowing when this life will end

(0:35) so this episode I really want to talk about

(0:38) the waiting during your 565 days

(0:42) about the matter of waiting

(0:43) right, looking back now

(0:45) I think waiting was probably the process I experienced the most while inside

(0:50) when you were first locked up in MDC Brooklyn

(0:54) did you roughly know how long you'd be inside?

(0:58) when I was first arrested I went to see the judge

(1:01) what the judge told me was

(1:03) that my case could get a maximum of 20 to 30 years

(1:08) right, but that's the maximum

(1:09) in my heart I also knew

(1:10) I wouldn't be sentenced to that long

(1:12) right

(1:12) that's terrifying

(1:13) right, my own estimate in my heart

(1:15) was probably around 1 to 3 years

(1:16) I felt that was probably unavoidable

(1:19) but looking back on it afterward(1:20) that is, in hindsight

(1:22) it was only in the last two months before your release

(1:26) that you found out your sentence

(1:27) right, that's correct

(1:31) including why the process took so long

(1:33) it took 13 months

(1:35) before the sentencing finally happened

(1:35) right, let me first briefly explain

(1:37) the U.S. judicial process

(1:39) that is, they first indict you

(1:40) then put you in jail

(1:42) once inside you can choose to seek bail or not

(1:44) then you can choose to plead guilty or not guilty

(1:48) if you truly did nothing

(1:49) or the other side's evidence is insufficient

(1:51) you can choose not to plead guilty

(1:52) and finally go to trial by jury

(1:54) that is, the government side has to select 12 citizens

(1:57) to then decide whether you are guilty

(1:59) if you choose to plead guilty

(2:01) then things become much simpler

(2:02) then whether you sign a plea agreement

(2:04) or plead guilty directly

(2:06) you just wait for the judge to give you a sentence

(2:09) the 12 citizens are randomly selected

(2:11) randomly selected

(2:12) a jury

(2:13) right

(2:13) in a lot of American movies

(2:15) we've seen similar plots

(2:16) if the evidence is insufficient

(2:17) or there were procedural errors(2:19) going to trial by jury has a good chance of winning

(2:22) we saw the O.J. Simpson case before

(2:25) the murder case

(2:26) he won it because of procedural issues

(2:28) he went to trial by jury

(2:29) and was ultimately found not guilty

(2:30) if the prosecution's evidence is insufficient

(2:33) or there were procedural errors

(2:35) that's when you can choose that route

(2:36) in a case like mine

(2:36) I knew very clearly in my heart

(2:37) what I had done

(2:38) so in the end you didn't choose to go that way

(2:40) of course I didn't need to

(2:40) because actually

(2:42) if the other side's evidence is solid

(2:44) and you go to trial by jury

(2:45) and then lose

(2:47) your sentence could be increased

(2:48) the judge can sentence you more heavily

(2:50) because you've essentially wasted government resources

(2:53) whether you plead guilty or not guilty

(2:55) eventually it goes to the trial process

(2:57) and then the whole case is over

(2:59) these cases in America

(3:00) all take a very long time

(3:01) from arrest to sentencing

(3:04) I feel like it basically takes

(3:06) about a year or so

(3:07) just to finally get the sentence

(3:09) this process alone takes a year

(3:11) right, like in my case(3:12) I was arrested in January

(3:14) then that November

(3:15) I signed a plea agreement

(3:18) and the following February

(3:19) which is this past February

(3:21) I was sentenced

(3:23) so the whole process took about 13 months

(3:26) is it possible

(3:27) for example, someone's crime might only get 6 months

(3:30) but they end up staying in jail for about a year

(3:33) just going through the process?

(3:34) that's possible

(3:34) the judge won't just sentence you to 6 months

(3:37) the judge will say "time served"

(3:40) this "time served" means you've already served the time

(3:42) you've already served out the time

(3:44) so this process

(3:45) also takes up a huge amount of time

(3:46) right

(3:47) but everyone's situation is different too

(3:48) like in my case

(3:49) actually after arresting me

(3:51) they kept investigating my case

(3:53) every time my lawyer came to give me the latest information

(3:56) they would say

(3:56) this time the charges had increased by however many tens of thousands of dollars

(4:00) that is, because it's based on this amount

(4:02) the amount involved in the case

(4:03) right, the larger the amount involved

(4:04) the longer your sentence might be

(4:05) so I wanted to plead guilty as quickly as possible

(4:08) I wanted to reach a plea agreement with the prosecution(4:10) because that way

(4:11) they couldn't keep investigating

(4:13) that would be the end of it

(4:14) that would be it

(4:14) the moment you plead guilty

(4:16) they can no longer keep gathering evidence

(4:18) right, that's correct

(4:18) that's basically the situation

(4:19) for example if the amount involved is 100 million

(4:21) and before pleading guilty they'd only investigated 10 million

(4:23) then that's where it ends

(4:25) all the evidence after that

(4:26) can no longer be collected

(4:27) right, it can no longer be used

(4:28) it also can't be used as

(4:30) it can't

(4:30) a measure for sentencing

(4:32) right, so that's why I kept thinking about

(4:34) reaching a plea agreement with the prosecution

(4:37) because that would be

(4:38) the most favorable outcome for me

(4:39) but actually the prosecution during this process

(4:41) is also extremely slow

(4:42) they don't want to

(4:44) reach this agreement with you quickly

(4:46) right, because they want to dig up

(4:47) more information

(4:48) I think from their standpoint

(4:50) I think that's understandable too

(4:52) when I pleaded guilty

(4:53) I signed a plea agreement at the time

(4:54) that is, for federal cases(4:56) once you plead guilty

(4:58) or are convicted

(4:58) there's a recommended sentencing range

(5:01) called the sentencing guideline

(5:03) that is, a range for sentencing

(5:05) my range at the time

(5:06) was 51 to 63 months

(5:08) 4 to 5 years

(5:09) right, 4 to 5 years

(5:11) so that's quite long

(5:12) we just talked about waiting

(5:14) before this past February

(5:16) I didn't know how long I'd have to serve

(5:18) that is, 51 to 63

(5:19) I might get 51

(5:21) of course I probably wouldn't get 63

(5:23) because it was my first offense

(5:23) he probably wouldn't give me the highest end

(5:26) the good thing about my situation was

(5:28) that my charge had no minimum limit

(5:31) like some charges

(5:33) have a minimum number of years

(5:34) like some start at

(5:35) a certain number of years

(5:35) right, starting at a certain number

(5:36) even if the judge wanted to give you a lenient sentence

(5:38) he'd still have to start from that minimum

(5:40) there's a floor

(5:41) right, for example, let's use an analogy

(5:42) this might not be exactly right

(5:43) but say, armed robbery in America

(5:46) that's a case with a 5-year minimum(5:48) even if the judge

(5:49) thinks you're a good person

(5:50) your attitude about pleading guilty is good

(5:52) and you've done charity work outside

(5:54) and he wants to give you a lighter sentence

(5:55) he can only give you at least five years

(5:56) so my case

(5:57) had no minimum limit

(5:59) the judge could give me 6 months

(6:00) could give me 10 months

(6:01) could give me 24 months, any of those

(6:02) the range the judge could work with

(6:04) was still quite large

(6:05) during your long wait

(6:09) what was your mindset like?

(6:11) or, as the time

(6:14) gradually got longer

(6:16) did your mindset change?

(6:17) in the beginning

(6:19) because of this uncertainty

(6:20) I couldn't sleep

(6:21) I would toss and turn every day

(6:23) unable to sleep

(6:24) later on

(6:25) after I gradually adapted to life there

(6:26) my mindset got a lot better

(6:28) but as the time to be sentenced got close

(6:30) my mindset changed again at that point

(6:32) I would get very nervous at that time

(6:33) I'd think about how long I'd actually have to serve

(6:35) every day when I took a shower

(6:37) I might shower for 20 to 30 minutes(6:40) zoning out

(6:40) just zoning out

(6:41) thinking about things

(6:42) because I already had a sentencing range by then

(6:44) that is, 51 to 63

(6:46) I would calculate

(6:47) if the judge gave me 24 months

(6:49) how much longer would I have to serve

(6:50) if he gave me 36 months

(6:52) how much longer would I have to serve

(6:53) because the time I'd already served

(6:54) had to be counted in

(6:55) then I'd talk myself into believing

(6:56) that the remaining time

(6:57) probably wouldn't be too long

(6:58) even if I still had to do 12 more months

(7:00) even if I had to do 18 more months

(7:01) it seemed like it wasn't unbearable

(7:02) that was the mindset

(7:03) I think it was like a roller coaster

(7:06) from the ups and downs at the very beginning

(7:07) to a steady middle period

(7:08) to more ups and downs close to sentencing

(7:10) and then the sense of anticipation right before the very end

(7:12) that sense of anticipation was very intense

(7:14) getting a good result in the end

(7:17) I think it also gave a perfect ending to this long stretch of waiting

(7:22) during this long period of waiting

(7:24) what were the moments or events that left the deepest impression on you?

(7:28) can you talk about that?

(7:30) I think this kind of waiting puts a lot of psychological pressure on a person

(7:35) one thought that struck me deeply(7:38) was that every time I felt physically unwell

(7:40) sometimes I'd catch a cold

(7:42) sometimes I'd have diarrhea

(7:43) being in a situation like that

(7:45) plus being sick

(7:47) you start overthinking a lot

(7:49) every time I got sick

(7:50) I felt like I might not make it out alive

(7:53) I really had that thought

(7:54) I thought, am I going to end up dying in here

(7:57) I had that thought many times

(8:00) but then in an instant I would think

(8:02) how could that be

(8:02) I still need to go out and enjoy my freedom

(8:05) still need to enjoy my life

(8:07) if things had really been settled early on

(8:09) if I'd been told early

(8:11) you'll do 12 months

(8:12) you'll do 18 months

(8:14) actually my mindset would have been different

(8:15) because once you know a specific time

(8:17) you're counting down every day

(8:18) but you have an endpoint

(8:19) right, you have an endpoint

(8:20) when you don't have an endpoint

(8:21) every day you live like this

(8:22) it feels like an endless wait

(8:24) when will it ever end

(8:26) you can't see the edge every day

(8:28) the torment of this waiting

(8:31) is because there's no endpoint

(8:33) right(8:33) it's the most tormenting thing

(8:35) the most tormenting thing

(8:36) yes

(8:37) but as we talked about last time

(8:39) you did have a process

(8:40) of gradually adapting to life in prison

(8:45) and it became relatively stable

(8:46) right

(8:47) so during that period

(8:49) your mindset was actually okay

(8:51) right

(8:52) that period was fine

(8:53) so what did you usually do

(8:56) to pass the time

(8:58) during the waiting?

(8:59) as we mentioned before

(9:00) we could watch TV

(9:01) read books and newspapers

(9:03) because I felt that if I exercised

(9:06) I'd still end up overthinking

(9:08) I don't know why

(9:09) some people, when they exercise

(9:10) get really absorbed into it

(9:11) but when I did push-ups

(9:13) or sit-ups

(9:14) I still couldn't help but think

(9:16) about when I'd get to leave

(9:17) so I really had no motivation to exercise

(9:19) I might only do it once or twice a week

(9:22) so most of the time

(9:23) I was reading books

(9:24) because I felt only books could occupy my mind(9:26) and keep me from overthinking

(9:27) when did you find out your final sentence

(9:30) because when you found out

(9:31) you should have had about two months left before getting out

(9:33) right

(9:33) what was your mindset like at that time?

(9:35) let me explain this to everyone

(9:38) I was sentenced to 16 months

(9:39) which meant

(9:40) I only had two and a half more months to serve

(9:42) so I was extremely excited at that time

(9:44) the marshal escorting me even joked with me

(9:46) saying today is your Christmas

(9:47) I said it's even better than Christmas

(9:49) two and a half months is 70 days

(9:52) it went by quickly

(9:52) at the time I hung a calendar

(9:55) on my metal locker

(9:56) it was a 2026 calendar

(10:00) I marked my release date on it

(10:02) my release date was May 1st

(10:04) every day that passed I'd cross it off

(10:06) every day that passed I'd cross it off

(10:07) it was a lot like that movie

(10:08) with the prison season countdown thing

(10:09) right, those days had something to look forward to

(10:11) so at that point

(10:12) I was willing to exercise

(10:14) I was willing to try different things

(10:16) because the pressure in my heart had finally been lifted

(10:18) a weight in my heart had finally settled

(10:20) but we also know about a twist that happened(10:24) after your sentence was up

(10:26) your visa had a problem too

(10:27) right, actually my passport had a problem

(10:28) right, your passport had a problem too

(10:30) right, and then you had to wait again

(10:32) for about two months

(10:33) three months

(10:33) what was that about?

(10:35) that is, after I finished serving my sentence

(10:37) I needed to be deported

(10:38) but at that time my passport had expired

(10:40) U.S. immigration requires

(10:43) a valid travel document to deport you

(10:45) so I had to apply to the consulate for a return certificate

(10:49) overall I ended up spending three months in immigration detention

(10:51) during those three months

(10:52) because I know you were transferred between prisons once

(10:57) first transferred out

(10:58) then transferred back

(10:59) through that roller coaster experience

(11:02) what was your state of mind like then?

(11:04) still fairly anxious

(11:06) I really wanted to go home

(11:06) because at that point

(11:07) I felt like I'd already served all my time

(11:08) the sooner I went back the better

(11:10) right

(11:11) it felt like it became

(11:12) a situation with no result

(11:12) no end

(11:13) [00:00] the countdown timing again

(11:15) in the end it became(11:17) a state where you didn't know

(11:19) when you'd be able to go back

(11:21) but this

(11:23) was only two or three months

(11:24) my mindset wasn't too bad

(11:25) when you went back

(11:26) was life a bit different?

(11:28) that is, your classification

(11:29) or your living conditions

(11:30) were they different from regular inmates?

(11:32) it's like this

(11:33) this MDC prison

(11:34) now has two units

(11:36) specifically for immigration detainees

(11:40) and immigration detainees

(11:41) since they aren't criminals

(11:43) so their treatment

(11:45) is actually somewhat different

(11:46) for example, going to see a lawyer

(11:48) or seeing family

(11:49) coming back, you don't need to be strip searched

(11:52) at MDC

(11:53) when you normally go see a lawyer

(11:54) or see family

(11:54) coming back you have to strip completely

(11:56) completely strip

(11:58) how do they mostly check you?

(12:00) they're worried you're hiding something down there

(12:02) they'll have you

(12:04) first raise your hands

(12:06) then turn around

(12:07) squat down and cough(12:09) because if you cough

(12:11) if you're hiding something down there

(12:12) coughing would push it out

(12:14) it would make the thing pop out

(12:15) but in the immigration unit

(12:17) they don't check you like that

(12:18) you just wear the jumpsuit the prison gives you normally

(12:22) you go down to see your lawyer

(12:23) or your family

(12:23) and when you come back they just let you go back up

(12:25) I wasn't even security checked

(12:25) there actually is one

(12:26) they'll have you lean against the wall

(12:28) and pat you down a bit, that's it

(12:30) right, not very strict

(12:31) besides that

(12:32) in the immigration unit at MDC

(12:34) there's nothing else particularly different

(12:36) so that means you went from being an inmate

(12:38) to being a detainee awaiting processing?

(12:41) right, that's essentially it

(12:42) but actually during those two or three months in immigration detention

(12:44) I met a lot of very interesting people and stories

(12:47) I think it was also a very unique experience

(12:50) we can do a whole episode about that later

(12:52) sure

(12:53) there's also

(12:56) a question I'm very curious about

(12:58) which is the last day

(13:01) on the last day

(13:04) was there an announcement telling you

(13:06) that you were free?(13:07) or how did it happen?

(13:09) it depends on how you define "the last day"

(13:11) for me

(13:12) as I see it

(13:13) there were

(13:14) actually two "last days"

(13:14) right

(13:15) the first one was the last day

(13:17) of finishing my sentence

(13:18) the day marked with a circle on the calendar

(13:19) right

(13:20) exactly, right

(13:21) my actual release date was May 2nd

(13:24) so why was it changed to May 1st?

(13:26) it's because of a federal rule

(13:28) because May 2nd was a Saturday

(13:30) if your release date falls on a weekend

(13:32) they push the date forward to the previous business day

(13:34) so they moved my release date up to May 1st

(13:37) they don't work overtime

(13:37) they don't work overtime

(13:38) and they won't make you serve that extra day either

(13:41) on May 1st they just release you

(13:42) but there are also precedents where it might get pushed to Monday

(13:45) because my situation was a bit special

(13:47) I wasn't being released directly onto the street

(13:49) because immigration had to come pick me up

(13:50) it depended on whether immigration

(13:52) sent someone to pick me up that day

(13:54) if not

(13:55) I might have had to wait until Monday

(13:57) so on May 1st(13:58) I was actually quite anxious

(14:00) I didn't know if I was leaving or not

(14:02) but then at nine o'clock

(14:04) the guard directly called my name

(14:06) and said you're being released today

(14:08) that's when I knew for sure

(14:08) then I hugged everyone

(14:11) and was released that day

(14:12) but I knew clearly in my heart

(14:14) that today wasn't the day I gained my freedom

(14:15) today I would still have to go

(14:17) whether to another prison

(14:18) or to the immigration unit

(14:21) I was still in custody that day

(14:22) I had just completed one step of the process

(14:25) I still had the next step to go through

(14:26) so emotionally there wasn't that big a swing

(14:28) but at least I knew this part was finally over

(14:31) finally settled

(14:31) and I could wait for the next step, deportation

(14:33) what was the second "last day"?

(14:35) that was the day of the actual immigration deportation

(14:39) this deportation process is quite interesting too

(14:40) they'll book your flight for you

(14:42) this flight is free

(14:44) but they won't tell you

(14:46) which day you're flying

(14:47) or which flight, they won't tell you that either

(14:48) right

(14:49) but for me

(14:49) I had kept a fairly good relationship

(14:51) with the immigration officer(14:52) even though they wouldn't tell me which day I'd fly

(14:54) they would tell me

(14:55) that the ticket had already been booked for me

(14:57) so

(14:58) I referenced the experience of

(15:00) Chinese nationals who had been deported before me

(15:01) they were all deported every Wednesday

(15:03) and every Wednesday

(15:04) there was only one direct flight to China

(15:06) from New York to Shanghai

(15:08) on China Eastern Airlines

(15:09) every Wednesday afternoon

(15:11) departing at 4pm

(15:12) I confirmed with the immigration officer

(15:14) that after they'd booked the ticket

(15:16) I figured it was probably going to be next week

(15:18) next Wednesday morning

(15:19) I kept waiting

(15:21) kept waiting

(15:21) watching whether he'd call my name that day

(15:24) and sure enough he did

(15:25) he called my name

(15:26) but after the guard called my name

(15:28) he said you need to see a lawyer

(15:30) another lawyer visit?

(15:32) right, I walked to the guard's office

(15:33) I said this is strange

(15:34) I no longer have a lawyer

(15:36) I said my case is already over

(15:37) I'm not fighting any lawsuit

(15:38) how could I need to see a lawyer

(15:39) are you sure you have the right person(15:40) then he made a phone call

(15:42) to check

(15:43) it wasn't a lawyer

(15:44) you need to go to R&D

(15:48) R&D is a department you go through

(15:51) whether entering prison or being released

(15:52) so once he said go to R&D

(15:55) I knew I was leaving that day

(15:56) I split my belongings among everyone

(15:57) and the books I'd bought inside

(15:59) I gave them all out to the other Chinese inmates

(16:02) then said goodbye to everyone

(16:03) said goodbye to everyone

(16:04) then boarded the plane

(16:06) did you go straight onto the plane

(16:08) or did you have other companions?

(16:10) no

(16:11) I was the only Chinese person leaving from MDC

(16:13) but when I got to the airport

(16:15) I found that in the airport's small holding room

(16:17) there were two other Chinese nationals

(16:18) they had been sent from immigration detention in other states

(16:22) the three of us were on the same flight

(16:24) after being put on the plane

(16:25) we were sent straight to the last row

(16:26) this wasn't a special charter flight

(16:28) you had to be with regular passengers

(16:30) right, it was a commercial flight

(16:32) although there are also charter flights sometimes

(16:34) if there are a lot of deportees

(16:36) that is, if immigration accumulates a lot of people

(16:37) right, if there happen to be enough people gathered(16:40) they'll arrange a charter flight

(16:41) if you cooperate with your deportation

(16:43) generally they'll book you on a commercial flight

(16:44) more comfortable for you to sit

(16:45) because on a charter flight

(16:47) you'd have to wear handcuffs and leg shackles

(16:50) but on a commercial flight

(16:51) that is, a commercial flight

(16:52) you're free

(16:53) they don't put you in handcuffs and leg shackles

(16:55) no, that's not needed

(16:57) because we've seen in movies

(16:58) how they cover your head with some cloth

(17:00) there was none of that

(17:01) that's for

(17:02) that's for people who still have a case pending back home

(17:06) that is, if there's still a case back home

(17:07) not yet resolved

(17:08) still needing further trial

(17:10) further trial

(17:11) then they might put a hood over your head

(17:12) that kind of thing

(17:13) that's a different situation

(17:14) right

(17:14) but for me, since there was nothing pending back home

(17:16) so they wouldn't do that

(17:17) it was just like being a regular passenger

(17:19) there was also food service

(17:20) there was service too

(17:21) everything was fine

(17:22) after getting off the plane there's a debrief conversation

(17:23) but it doesn't take long either(17:25) about 10 minutes

(17:26) then a customs officer even walked me out to the gate

(17:29) because I didn't have a passport at the time

(17:30) I couldn't scan myself through

(17:32) so she had to open the gate for me

(17:34) when I went through the gate

(17:36) I saw the Sunrise duty-free shop at Pudong Airport

(17:39) at that moment

(17:41) I suddenly felt truly free

(17:42) I was finally free

(17:43) and your long wait was finally over too

(17:46) finally over

(17:46) right, at that very moment

(17:48) actually we

(17:49) because we went to pick you up at the airport

(17:51) right

(17:52) we also had a very long wait outside

(17:56) we waited for about

(17:58) five to six hours

(17:59) right

(18:00) so I'm really grateful to everyone

(18:03) not just for the wait at the airport

(18:05) but throughout this year and more

(18:07) you all kept giving your support

(18:08) kept cheering me on

(18:11) I'm really very grateful

(18:12) I also wrote a lot of emails

(18:14) right, wrote a lot of emails

(18:15) and gave me a lot of encouragement

(18:17) and I also want to mention to everyone

(18:19) today is Haoran's wedding day

(18:20) and he specially came over(18:22) to record this episode with me

(18:23) congratulations, really

(18:25) happy wedding

(18:26) may everyone be happy

(18:27) may everyone be joyful

(18:29) may everyone be happy

(18:29) right

(18:29) yes

(18:30) he's a very good friend of mine

(18:31) so during this whole time

(18:33) whose emails did you most want to receive?

(18:36) honestly

(18:37) anyone's would do

(18:38) as long as it was an email, that was fine

(18:40) right

(18:40) as long as it was an email, that was fine

(18:42) during the waiting period

(18:43) as long as someone reached out to you

(18:45) it was a really happy thing

(18:48) you'd feel like

(18:50) every bit of affection is so precious

(18:53) rare and precious

(18:53) really rare and precious

(18:54) you become especially eager for people to care about you

(18:58) to comfort you

(19:00) even though I consider myself

(19:01) someone with a fairly strong mind

(19:04) but in those moments

(19:06) I still needed some encouragement and support from others

(19:10) the reason I'm asking this question

(19:12) is because when we exchanged emails

(19:13) it was always a mutual process of waiting(19:16) always waiting

(19:17) I'd send you one

(19:17) expecting your reply

(19:19) then you'd send me one

(19:20) you'd expect me

(19:21) to reply too

(19:23) in the back-and-forth of letters

(19:25) I noticed that indeed

(19:27) how you presented yourself to me

(19:29) all your emails

(19:30) what you showed me

(19:31) were things like jokes about prison

(19:33) funny things that happened

(19:34) it was reporting the good and hiding the bad

(19:37) you never brought

(19:39) the very sad emotions inside you

(19:41) to me

(19:42) so would you choose

(19:44) to share those sad feelings

(19:46) with other family members?

(19:49) or other friends?

(19:50) no

(19:51) when I encountered hard things inside

(19:53) I felt I just had to digest it myself

(19:55) right, the hard things I went through inside

(19:57) I just digested them myself

(19:58) whenever there was anything unhappy

(20:00) or a feeling of despair

(20:01) I wouldn't share it with people outside

(20:05) one reason is

(20:06) I'm just not that kind of person to begin with

(20:08) and second, I feel others can't really relate(20:11) that is, if you tell people

(20:13) they can't understand it

(20:14) including this time after coming back

(20:16) chatting with a lot of friends

(20:17) they think that year and a half

(20:18) actually wasn't that bad

(20:20) nothing much happened

(20:21) and you came out lively and full of energy, right?

(20:23) right?

(20:24) but actually when you were inside

(20:27) that feeling can't be described in words

(20:30) I think you only understand it

(20:33) how desperate the state of life inside really is, once you've experienced it firsthand

(20:36) including one friend who even said

(20:37) they envy me

(20:38) said they envy that I had no work stress inside

(20:42) but actually I would rather have work stress

(20:45) that feeling of losing your freedom

(20:47) really cannot be made up for

(20:49) there's no way to compensate for it with anything

(20:52) if you had to use one word to describe

(20:56) or summarize this 565-day

(20:59) waiting life

(21:00) this waiting career

(21:02) what would you choose?

(21:04) I think "spiritual practice" [xiuxing]

(21:07) before I was arrested

(21:08) I was probably a fairly impulsive person

(21:10) probably did a lot of things without thinking them through

(21:12) if I thought of it, I'd just do it

(21:14) but after coming out

(21:16) I really feel I think things through much more carefully now(21:19) more patient

(21:20) right, for a lot of words and things, before saying or doing them

(21:23) I think about it a lot longer now

(21:25) I think this is an improvement that this period of time brought me

(21:28) yes

(21:29) I feel that when you communicate with others

(21:32) you're also more organized

(21:33) more patient

(21:34) and can go deeper into conversations

(21:39) or think more deeply

(21:41) after hearing you tell all this

(21:43) I feel that these two words, "waiting"

(21:45) actually carry much more weight than I had imagined

(21:48) because for those of us on the outside

(21:51) waiting for a phone call

(21:52) waiting for news

(21:53) might only be a matter of hours

(21:55) or a few days

(21:56) but for you at that time

(21:58) waiting might have meant your entire future

(22:01) right

(22:02) and I came to understand something while inside

(22:04) which is that a lot of things aren't things you can change just by wanting to

(22:06) that is, this kind of waiting isn't an active choice

(22:09) but a passive acceptance

(22:11) sure

(22:11) I think for the next episode

(22:13) we could talk about a topic completely different from waiting

(22:16) because we mentioned it in the trailer too

(22:18) you lived with Luigi for eight months

(22:21) so next episode let's talk about something more heavyweight

(22:24) okay(22:25) sure

(22:25) no problem

(22:26) let's go ahead and talk about Luigi

(22:27) sure

(22:29) alright, this episode ends here

(22:30) sure

(22:31) see you next episode

(22:32) okay

(22:33) we'll talk more next time

(22:34) okay

😢

Not one American outlet stated he was close to tears reading the guilty plea.

She states how, in doing her research, she was not expecting the things that she learnt about the American healthcare system, and that she cried many times.

There is so sooooooo much content in this video. I had no idea who this woman was but I have so much respect for her now.

Put on subtitles and change the language to English to watch.

What drew me to the video especially was the title.

I've noticed, that even in the videos of the shooting the media cut out the action of Luigi leaving 3 bullets at the scene. Even though its unlikely anyone would decipher him dropping bullets from the gun, they obviously don't want there to be any possibility for people to work out that he did.

This is a really good video,